One of the marks of an effective teacher is the ability to build on her student’s prior knowledge, dispel misconceptions, and understand how to meet students at the level they are at. Taking the PRAXIS exam allowed me to take stock of what I know, what I have a solid understanding of, and what I need to keep working on and learning to improve myself and my teaching abilities. Additionally, this knowledge has helped me better understand how disciplines are connected and how I could develop units and lessons that draw information and content from multiple subject areas so that my students are truly engaged in the lesson. I may not have perfect scores, but taking the PRAXIS exam has made me a better teacher because it has shown me that I am capable and I do know the content, but that I still have room to learn and grow. I believe that my study in social studies has been most effective in preparing me to become an elementary school teacher because I have gained a deeper global awareness and understand the importance of incorporating cultural diversity into my future classroom. This will benefit my future students greatly.

One of my greatest insecurities as a teacher is my ability to teach or understand math. I am confident in all other subjects but I was genuinely concerned that I would be unable to teach math to my students. I even debated becoming a secondary education teacher so that I could avoid math entirely. However, my greatest area of growth by far, especially when it comes to demonstrating knowledge of content and pedagogy, has been in math. This manipulative portfolio is just one example of the ways that I have grown in my teaching math abilities. I understand the concepts now and I am able to teach them. I understand math concepts beyond just how to add and subtract and I am able to put them into practice so that I can teach in a way that helps my students understand math and how it works. Math is actually one of my favorite subjects to teach students now, because I have put so much effort and work into truly understanding math so that I can teach it to my students. This artifact demonstrates my ability to not only understand the content but to break it down in a way that a child would understand.